After early struggles, men's lacrosse hits back against Detroit Mercy

Going down by two goals in the first nine minutes of action in his first game as coach of the Terrapin men's lacrosse team — especially against a hapless Detroit Mercy team — wasn't the way John Tillman expected to begin his stint at the helm of the program.

But after a goal from Detroit attackman Alex Maini put the Titans up two scores with 5:55 remaining in the first quarter, Tillman found himself facing that very reality.

"At that point, what I didn't want to focus on was the negative," said Tillman, who called a timeout after Maini's goal, "[but instead] on, ‘Hey, this is a great opportunity to come together, step up, rally around this and make this a positive, because we can't take away what happened. We need to move on, and we all need to step up.' There was no reason to dwell on it."

The message was well received. After the timeout, the Terps went on a 10-goal run and held Detroit scoreless for more than 30 minutes. That dominant stretch was all the Terps needed to put the Titans out of striking distance in an eventual 16-4 rout at Byrd Stadium in front of 1,523.

The 12-goal margin of victory was the program's largest in a home opener since 2001 and marked the Terps' 18th straight season-opening win.

"As soon as we took the lead, we realized we weren't looking back from then on," attackman Ryan Young said. "Once we stopped that early surge and jumped ahead, we just put our foot on their throat."

The Terps' (1-0) initial deficit came after it appeared they had gained an early advantage. With 8:16 left in the opening frame, a goal by attackman Travis Reed was disallowed because of an illegal-stick penalty that gave Detroit a three-minute extra-man opportunity.

"Somehow during the game, it got rearranged," Reed said. "I had it checked before the game — I do that every game. I guess something happened. I take full responsibility."

With five defenders on the field and Reed on the sideline, two Titan (0-4) goals quickly followed.

Once Reed returned, though, he made up for his mistake, helping to lead a balanced offensive attack with two goals and two assists. Thirteen players ultimately recorded a point in the rout, and four players — attackman Grant Catalino, Young, Reed and midfielder John Haus — finished with four points.

Young and attackman Joe Cummings led all scorers with three goals apiece, and Haus' four assists doubled his total from last season.

"This is our fourth year starting together, so we have a lot of confidence out there," Young said of the senior-laden attack. "We feel that if we start the tone early, then our younger midfield groups will settle in nicely and be able to attack full force from there."

The Terps' two biggest question marks heading into the season — goalkeeping and face-offs — were answered, at least Saturday, with sound performances from goalkeeper Niko Amato and midfielder Curtis Holmes. Amato, who redshirted last year, stopped three of seven shots and picked up four ground balls, while Holmes won 81 percent of the draws he took.

Even after dominating nearly every statistical battle, including shots (36-17), ground balls (49-23) and face-offs won (18-6), Tillman and players agreed that a similar start against upcoming competition — the Terps face No. 15 Georgetown on Saturday and No. 5 Duke the following week — likely won't yield a similar result.

"This was a good start," Reed said. "We got the butterflies out of us and we were able to get the win. It wasn't necessarily the prettiest thing, but we're 1-0."

jengelke@umdbk.com